Receiving an A were Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas and Iowa. Getting an F were Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico and Nevada.

CBER director Michael Hicks said manufacturing production will almost certainly have a record year in 2011 and again 2012, but employment nationwide will be highly varied across states.

"Some states, such as Indiana, have seen a real turnaround in manufacturing employment since the end of the recession in 2009 (up 4.6 percent), while the nation as a whole has seen one in 50 manufacturing jobs lost," Hicks said. "Prior to the recession beginning in 2007, business location and expansion decisions were almost wholly driven by the availability of skilled workers. Today, that is far less a short term consideration, and tax rates and concern about future tax increases due to high pension costs and other factors dominate business decisions to relocate. So, states emerging from this recession with a solid fiscal climate will tend to outperform those with uncertain balance sheets."